Patients’ Needs for Contact With Their GP at the Time of Hospital Admission and Other Life Events: A Quantitative and Qualitative Exploration

Henk Schers; Caroline van de Ven; Henk van den Hoogen; Richard Grol; Wil van den Bosch

doi:10.1370/afm.231

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Commitment and achievability
Henk J Schers

Published on: 22 October 2004
Can we find new ways of showing commitment?
George K Freeman

Published on: 19 October 2004

Published on: (22 October 2004)
Page navigation anchor for Commitment and achievability
Commitment and achievability
Henk J Schers, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
We thank Prof dr G Freeman for his useful comments on our study. We would like to stress that our study primarily concentrated on anticipated needs more than on expectations.
It is an interesting thought that we should find more easily achievable ways of showing commitment. From our qualitative work, we learned that many patients are quite realistic on this matter. Showing commitment is having a relationship....
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We thank Prof dr G Freeman for his useful comments on our study. We would like to stress that our study primarily concentrated on anticipated needs more than on expectations.
It is an interesting thought that we should find more easily achievable ways of showing commitment. From our qualitative work, we learned that many patients are quite realistic on this matter. Showing commitment is having a relationship. Although they anticipated needing or valuing a home visit, some said for example that they already would appreciate a telephone call, which might be achievable in most cases. Communicating actual possibilities in daily practice with our patients would take us half-way.
In our study, it appeared that patients’ needs in The Netherlands are considerable. Moreover, most patients will not ask for contact themselves. As general practice is getting busier, and GPs already feel overtaxed, it appears that showing commitment is easily threatened.
Therefore, we should know more about how commitment is valued as compared to other GP ‘products’ and how it affects other health parameters.
Competing interests: None declared
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Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (19 October 2004)
Page navigation anchor for Can we find new ways of showing commitment?
Can we find new ways of showing commitment?
George K Freeman, London, England
Schers and colleagues have reported a thought provoking study. On the one hand it evokes a past world of physician initiated home visits. It takes me back to my first year as a GP in 1972. On the other, it dares to ask what is meant by commitment. We find that, at least in the Netherlands, commitment represents patients' expectations that I, for one, would find impossible to meet in my own practice context. So we are helped to b...
Show More

Schers and colleagues have reported a thought provoking study. On the one hand it evokes a past world of physician initiated home visits. It takes me back to my first year as a GP in 1972. On the other, it dares to ask what is meant by commitment. We find that, at least in the Netherlands, commitment represents patients' expectations that I, for one, would find impossible to meet in my own practice context. So we are helped to better understand one aspect of interpersonal continuity. And we are challenged to find more easily achievable ways of showing our commitment to patients!
Competing interests: I have been invited as one of the panel to examine Dr Schers' PhD thesis next month.
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Competing Interests: None declared.